1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to providing menu icons and, more particularly, to a portable device and method of providing menu icons, which display upper-level icons and the lower-level icons thereof in a hierarchical fashion.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with the rapid development of communication technology, portable devices for enabling individuals to perform voice and data communication while moving have been developed and widely popularized.
In general, portable devices can be convenient communication tools that are frequently used in daily life, as when individuals perform voice or video communication or exchange information, such as text messages, with counterparts and access the Internet while carrying the portable devices. Examples of such portable devices include mobile telephones, portable phones, hand-held phones, cellular phones, Personal Communications Service (PCS) phones, personal portable phones, wireless communication terminals, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and International Mobile Telecommunications 2000 (IMT2000) terminals.
FIG. 1 illustrates the menu screen of a related art portable device.
As shown in FIG. 1, a related art method of displaying various menus for performing the functions of the portable device is a method of providing two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) image objects to a display panel 11.
To perform a specific function, however, a user must select a plurality of menu icons 12 one by one and search among detailed menu items included in a selected menu icon 12, which may be inconvenient.
That is, when a user does not know a menu icon under which a desired function is listed, the user must select displayed menu icons 12 one by one. Furthermore, when a functional item to be used does not exist in a selected menu icon, the user must move to an upper menu icon in order to move back down the menu to another menu icon. Accordingly, it is inconvenient that the user must perform button manipulation, that is, button selection, several times in order to search for the desired function.
In Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-88374 entitled “Portable Information Terminal Device, Display Control Device, Display Control Method and Computer-Readable Programs thereof”, a menu panel for displaying menu items is arranged such that a normal line is oriented toward a virtual camera, with a display location set along a corresponding trajectory, and transparency is set to a high value depending on the distance from the virtual camera. If scrolling manipulation is performed, the menu panel moves along trajectories between the display locations until the selected menu panel moves to a display location. The patent discloses a technique in which the display screen of the portable information terminal device is represented as a screen image by the virtual camera and the menu panel is three-dimensionally displayed in a roll form. However, this invention has a drawback in that only the height of the camera can be adjusted and the menu screen is not continuously provided as one screen, as in a conventional portable information terminal device.